Computer chip designs are expensive and hard to license. That’s all about to change thanks to the popular open standard known as RISC-V.
Ever wonder how your smartphone connects to your Bluetooth speaker, given they were made by different companies? Well, Bluetooth is an open standard, meaning its design specifications, such as the required frequency and its data encoding protocols, are publicly available. Software and hardware based on open standards—Ethernet, Wi-Fi, PDF—have become household names.
Now an open standard known as RISC-V (pronounced “risk five”) could change how companies create computer chips.